NZXT Switch 810 Review

Introduction:

First seen at CES 2012 several months ago by a lucky select group of people, NZXT has had a large portion of buzz and excitement in its court. Launched the Tuesday after the week of CES this year, the NZXT Switch 810 has already received a lot of good feedback due to its solid construction and its unique feature set that is a mile long. Available in both white and black, the NXZT Switch 810 is a "Hybrid Full Tower" with a staggering amount of room for watercooling (360/420mm radiator up top and 120/240mm radiator support on bottom), an LED-lit rear back panel that illuminates all of the rear I/O ports, two pivoting fans on the hard drive cages to optimize hardware cooling in any configuration, and loads more. The term "hybrid" in NZXT's description of the Switch 810 as a "Hybrid Full Tower" refers to the fins at the top of the case that can be opened and closed to switch between silence and performance.

At a retail price of $169.99, the NZXT Switch 810 can be considered, by price comparison, a little higher-end than where the NZXT Phantom currently stands. The Phantom was another NZXT creation that also produced a lot of good feedback — I know I really liked mine. I look forward to getting an upclose look at this new case from NZXT. I'm already in love with the mere size of the thing, its feature set, and the fact that it's nearly half the price of some "top end" full tower cases that are also fresh to the market, and even some that have been around for a while. In this review, I will share and support my findings through a thorough evaluation of the NZXT Switch 810 from its unboxing, exterior and interior features, technical specifications, and an intense thermal performance benchmark where the Switch 810's performance will be compared to other cases on the market.

Closer Look:

The NZXT Switch 810 comes packaged in a large, mostly black box with a photo of the white version of the case at an angle with the text "Switch 810 / Full Tower Chassis" in the top left of the front panel. "NZXT." appears at the bottom right. The right side of the box has a few paragraphs of text in many different languages, and a table of specifications and general information on the left side of the box. A very descriptive and heavy assortment of pictures and features of the inside of the case and other components are on the back. The inside of the case is colored with white paint and black accents. To me, the most interesting feature shown here is the two 120mm pivoting fans attached to the hard drive cages that can be angled up and across to video cards and other internal components. I'll be taking a close look at these and the other features shortly after this and the exterior's evaluation.

Once opened, you can see that the case is safely sandwiched between two pieces of soft/flexible styrofoam and protected from dirt and minor scratches by a clear plastic bag. Inside of the case is a bag of hardware and other typical components packaged with cases. Though the pictured case on the box itself is the white model, the model we will be taking a look at is the black model.

With the case removed, I can already say that it's a good looking design and the paint is of high quality. It is relatively glossy, so I am prepared to prepare myself to handle fingerprints!